Risque Miss Russia Photo Shoot Prompts Prosecutorial Probe

[Larry1]

Risque Miss Russia Photo Shoot Prompts Prosecutorial Probe

Prosecutors in the Sverdlovsk region have launched an investigation after the recently crowned Miss Russia was pictured draped in material resembling the Russian flag on the cover of a glossy magazine.

The cover of the print issue featured Sofia Nikitchuk — this year's Miss Russia — draped in silky material in the colors of the Russian flag under the headline "The Taste of Victory." The magazine issue was devoted to the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War II.

Stolnik's editor-in-chief Anna Reshyotkina confirmed to The Moscow Times on Tuesday that prosecutors had taken an interest in the cover.

"I was called to the Prosecutor's Office for a half-hour conversation after which I had to write a statement saying who was responsible for the decision to use that cover. I took full responsibility for the decision," she said in a phone interview.

Prosecutors have not contacted Reshyotkina since the meeting, which took place last Wednesday, she said.

A source in the Prosecutor's Office told local news website Znak.com that the probe was prompted by a request from an unknown individual who was apparently offended by the May cover of Stolnik, a local lifestyle magazine.

... The desecration of the Russian flag is a criminal offense that carries up to a year in prison under Russian law.

In 2013, three female dancers wrapped Russian flags around their bare breasts before tossing them to the floor during a strip show in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk. Representatives of the local Investigative Committee conducted a probe, but did not open a criminal case.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/risque-miss-russia-photo-shoot-prompts-prosecutorial-probe/522398.html

Here is a photo of the beautiful Sofia:



Here is another take on the controversy:

Soviet Tradition of Snitching Makes Comeback in Russia

The phenomenon of informants appealing to state bodies such as the Investigative Committee has become rife in recent years, prompting some pundits to draw parallels with the purges of the 1930s, when people would denounce their neighbors, colleagues and love rivals to improve their living conditions, advance their career or curry favor with the authorities.

"Everything is sliding back to 1937: denunciations, secret informants and squealers," said Irina Khaly, a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/522763.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+themoscowtimes%2Fnews+%28The+Moscow+Times+News%29

What do you think about any of this?

[jone]

Such an ugly picture.  Degrading to the Soviet Hammer and Sickle ... Russian Flag.  Good thing she wasn't from Ukraine.  The picture might have looked like this:



Also Sophia.  Looking like her beautiful self.

[jone]

I'm wondering if a picture like the following of Sophia might have created a greater outrage .......



Especially from Larry who was appalled at the original photograph.

[Larry1]

I'm told these are photos of the lovely Sofia:

[jone]

As an aside, I was at a central park in the Southern Urals a couple of weeks ago.  This little boy was playing around a memorial statue.  He was touching the granite and and his feet were in an area intended for a garden.  A older Babushka walks by and cusses out the mother.  In Russian she said that the little boy was killing the plants and showing dishonor to the statue. 

She was so offended when the mother calmly told her that the only flowers in the garden/planter were plastic.  I had not seen such anger from anyone for a long time as the elderly lady displayed. 

I can see how further restrictions and quality of life degradation might push people into a bitter totalitarian mindset.  This, however, is not the mindset of the younger generation, who see the freedoms of the West as desirable.

[jone]

Larry, I think I beat you to that bottom picture.  Here is the full magazine cover in question:

[Anotherkiwi]

I would hardly call this desecration - more like enhancement!

[Anotherkiwi]

Such an ugly picture.  Degrading to the Soviet Hammer and Sickle ... Russian Flag.  Good thing she wasn't from Ukraine. The picture might have looked like this:



Also Sophia.  Looking like her beautiful self.

I'm guessing that this may NOT have been taken in Ukraine!

[ML]

I'm guessing that this may NOT have been taken in Ukraine!

Pic was taken by me at lake in Carpathian Mountains within Ukraine.

[jone]

Oh, and Mrs. ML was steadying the tripod for the camera?

[Boethius]

"Everything is sliding back to 1937: denunciations, secret informants and squealers," said Irina Khaly, a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

She doesn't have to go back to 1937.  Try 1991.

[Anotherkiwi]

Pic was taken by me at lake in Carpathian Mountains within Ukraine.

You wish!